PERSONALIZING THE MOON

Each of us is born at a particular phase of the Moon and we express part of our nature through the quality of that phase.

— Caroline Smith and John Astrop in the Moon Oracle

The moon is a mirror and bridge that helps us connect with our inner wisdom. Every phase has a distinct quality, and developing a relationship with your natal moon phases may illuminate a dimension of yourself that may have been hidden. Focus on the qualities of the moon that you love and then see how you might begin to internalize, integrate, and embody those qualities.

Portrait of my Lunar Self

Your assignment is to create a personal moon portrait. This can be in written or illustrated form that is something you can add to over time.

Begin with the prompt: What do I love about the moon?

What do I love about myself? How might these be connected?

I love that the moon is powerful and beautiful.

I love that I am powerful and beautiful.

Sometimes it is easier to externalize things that we want to see or develop within ourselves.

Relationship to Phase and Self

The moon illuminates our emotional needs, intimacy, private rather than public, nourishment and nurturing, feelings and intuition, home and heart, primal and instinctual self. Moon work can take the form of building trust so that the creative spark of the inner child feels safe to express themselves.

Look at the word phase. What expressions or associations do you have with it? “It’s just a phase.” The word comes from Latin and Greek phasis which means to appear, or appearance. It also relates to things that are temporary or happen gradually.

Name some of the “phases” you have gone through in your life. What were the qualities you were expressing? How were you getting your needs met (or not) during that phase?

Your lunar birthday is when the moon returns to the same phase it was in when you were born. This happens once every lunar cycle. That’s 12 to 13 moon birthdays a year!

If you have the day, time, and place of your birth - you can enter it in to this website to get the sign that your moon was in along with the phase: Moon Sign and Moon Phase Calculator

For example, below is my natal moon phase. The moon phase degree is the distance the moon has traveled along the 365 degree orbit. You can see mine is 254 15’ - which is almost a last quarter moon.

Once you know the phase of your natal moon, this article may give insight into some qualities or characteristics of your relationship to your lunar self: Eight Phases as Personality Types

Just like any personality type take it with a grain of salt. Allow this to be a tool for understanding and awareness rather than an overly simplified category or box to fit in. We are multifaceted, multidimensional beings.

Another layer to the portrait of your lunar self lies within the new moon before you were born.

You drink from the stream of life of which the New Moon before your birth was the source. This gives clues for the tone and direction of life.

I love this imagery of the lunar cycle as a river that we are each born into.

You can look up the month and year of your birth to see which new moon you were born after on this website: mooncalendar.astro-seek.com

This will show you the new moons of a particular year. Find the one before your date of birth - this is the cycle you were born in. You can even click on that new moon to get some keywords for your lunar self portrait. For example:

Fertility and your Natal Moon

In the mid 1950s a Czech doctor named Eugen Jonas discovered that in addition to the scientifically established hormonal cycle, women have another fertility cycle that resonates with the cycles of the Moon. It began from an Assyrian source that Dr. Jonas happened to find in a library: "Woman is fertile during a certain phase of the Moon." (source)

Which phase? From his case studies Dr. Jonas found that women could become pregnant on their natal moon phase, regardless of where they were at in their hormonal cycle. A google search will turn up a number of article if you’d like to learn more.

Whether you bleed or not, are trying to conceive or not, notice your experience on this particular day in the cycle and see if you feel more ‘fertile’ - productive, juicy, radiant - in your relationships and work around that time.

The energy of fertility during ovulation holds the potential for creating something. This something may be a human baby, a creative project, a relationship, a spiritual quest, a movement. Notice how you choose to direct your life force energy to support it’s development.

Now it’s your turn: What was the moon phase on your day of birth? Does the lunar personality type resonate with you?

The Moon Is My Calendar is an educational site that offers tools and information to inspire you to connect with you inner wisdom and the wisdom of the natural world to lead a more radiant life.